Barrow to receive £200m govt boost
An immediate grant of £20m will be provided to help complete the A595 Grizebeck Bypass, with a promise of a minimum of £20m a year over the next decade “to unlock Barrow’s huge potential and support a growing workforce”.
The government’s press release went on to say that the funding will be used to build homes, support schools, and develop a transport network for the town.
The money will be part of the Barrow Transformation Fund, a new initiative to be overseen by the Barrow Delivery Board – itself a new creation, so new that the funding to set up the board has not yet been approved. That decision will be made on Tuesday at a council cabinet meeting. The delivery board is meant to be a partnership between the council, central government, and BAE Systems.
Westmorland and Furness Council chief executive Sam Plum described the government’s announcement as “a momentous day for Barrow, for its communities, and indeed for the wider Westmorland and Furness area”.
She added later: “Barrow is already a great place to live, work and thrive, but it faces challenges and it still needs significant investment in its infrastructure and communities to really grow.
“The scale of this investment increases exponentially when expansion at BAE Systems is factored in,” she continued.
“New people moving here need places to live but also good health care, access to education for their children, leisure and cultural opportunities and much, much more, which in turn need people.
“Our Team Barrow partnership with HM Government and BAE Systems is already working to meet these challenges and this funding announced today is solid backing to ensure we can deliver.”
Westmorland and Furness Council has already listed its plans for the first £20m. The authority’s Social Impact Fund, which supports charities and local organisations, and its Barrow Work and Health Fund, which focuses on economic inactivity and health, will receive £5m each. The remainder will go towards the A595 project.
The bypass has been in the works for years and has an estimated price tag of £25m, according to council documents. Story Contractor is lined up to deliver the road, with an estimated start date of 10 September and a completion in May 2028.
When finished, the 1.4-kilometre road will vastly improve north-south connectivity in Cumbria by connecting Chapels and Grizebeck.
Thats a lot of money to save two minutes of driving. Good news for Broughton as it will be less of a rat run
By Alan Partridge
Here come the pre election sweeteners 🙂 good news about the bypass to be fair
By Levelling Up Manager
Barrow gets a bad press. I visited the area a few Summers ago ,and was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting it to look like those awful places on the Thames Estuary but there were beautiful sandy beaches, pretty promenades and spectacular views. The town centre was like all post industrial towns but not without potential . I often think places are derided in this country, by people who have never visited them.
By Elephant
Instead of spending £20m on a new road, the public investment could instead fund a range of local benefits such as improved bus and rail infrastructure for the whole town and more financial support for the local high street to encourage more people to shop there rather than drive to out of town places
By road-dependent
I think it’s great that at last we have the investment and opp ortunity to grow this Town! We are a sleeping giant, great town and salt of the earth people. I’m hoping to open my own business in Barrow very soon, I will keep you posted!!!
By Neil